Liu Qi, Zhang Zhen
Department of Child Developmental Behavior & Henan Provincial Medical Key Lab of Child Developmental Behavior and Learning, the Third Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan, China.
Department of Medical Administration, the Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Zhengzhou University & Henan Cancer Hospital, Zhengzhou, China.
Front Psychiatry. 2025 May 22;16:1463212. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1463212. eCollection 2025.
Psychiatric disorders were observationally related to digital device use, but causality and direction remained unclear. We aimed to uncover the causal links between digital device use and five psychiatric disorders risk utilizing the two-sample Mendelian Randomization method.
We obtained genetic variants related to digital device use from the UK Biobank's genome-wide association study and psychiatric disorders data from the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium. The primary analysis employed the inverse-variance weighted method, complemented by sensitivity analyses to determine heterogeneity and pleiotropy.
There were causal relationships between genetically increased mobile phone use [odds ratio (OR) = 1.75, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.31-2.33], more television watching (OR = 3.39, 95% CI: 2.64-4.35) and a higher risk of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Genetically determined duration of computer use was also causally related to the risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) (OR = 2.66, 95%CI: 1.82-3.88). Conversely, ADHD was significantly positively associated with playing computer games ( = 0.021, 95%CI: 0.010-0.032) and watching television ( = 0.030, 95%CI: 0.010-0.049). Also, a significant inverse associations of major depression disorder (MDD) with playing computer games was observed ( = 0.008, 95%CI: 0.003-0.013).
Our findings indicate potential causal links between genetic disposition to use digital devices and psychiatric disorders, such as ADHD, ASD, and MDD, highlighting the importance of digital device use in both prevention and management of these disorders.
观察发现精神疾病与数字设备的使用有关，但因果关系和方向仍不明确。我们旨在利用两样本孟德尔随机化方法揭示数字设备使用与五种精神疾病风险之间的因果联系。
我们从英国生物银行的全基因组关联研究中获取与数字设备使用相关的基因变异，并从精神基因组学联盟获取精神疾病数据。主要分析采用逆方差加权法，并辅以敏感性分析以确定异质性和多效性。
基因决定的手机使用增加[比值比（OR）=1.75，95%置信区间（CI）：1.31 - 2.33]、看电视时间增加（OR = 3.39，95%CI：2.64 - 4.35）与注意力缺陷多动障碍（ADHD）风险升高之间存在因果关系。基因决定的电脑使用时长也与自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）风险存在因果关系（OR = 2.66，95%CI：1.82 - 3.88）。相反，ADHD与玩电脑游戏（=0.021，95%CI：0.010 - 0.032）和看电视（=0.030，95%CI：0.010 - 0.049）显著正相关。此外，还观察到重度抑郁症（MDD）与玩电脑游戏之间存在显著负相关（=0.008，95%CI：0.003 - 0.013）。
我们的研究结果表明，使用数字设备的遗传倾向与精神疾病（如ADHD、ASD和MDD）之间存在潜在因果联系，凸显了数字设备使用在这些疾病预防和管理中的重要性。
